Race horse game



April 14, 1953 o. H. CARPENTER RACE HORSE GAME Filed June 18, 1948 IN V EN TOR.

Oran H. Carperxta BY I mm {W Patented Apr. 14, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RACE HORSE GAME Orlin H. Carpenter, Akron, Ohio Application June 18, 1948, Serial No. 33,822 9 Claims. (01. 273--86) This invention relates to a game for amusement, and particularly relates to an amusement device in the nature of a race horse game.

One object of the invention is to provide a racing game of the character described including a plurality of racing pieces and improved mechanically operable means for moving the same along a race course in positive but unpredictable manner with respect to the order of movement of the racing pieces.

Another object of the invention is to provide a game device of the character described which readily lends itself to economical large scale manufacture and assembly.

Other objects of the invention will be manifest from the following brief description and the accompanying drawings.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a horse-racin game embodying the features of the invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal cross-section vertically through the game device, as viewed substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure l. I

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the game device shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is a transverse cross-section taken substantially on the line 4--4 of Figure 1.

Figures 5, 6, '7 and 8 are fragmentary crosssections taken substantially on the lines 55, 6-6, and 88, respectively, in Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a race horse game designated generally by the numeral l0, and including a frame H and a plurality of separate racing pieces l2, l3, l4, l5 and |6, simulating race horses and jockey riders. All parts of the frame and the racing pieces are designed to be of synthetic resin material for ease in manufacture and for attractiveness, although cther materials may be used.

The frame H as shown is box-like, the same including a long, narrow top panel 11 from which extends spaced side panels I8, It; provided with feet [8a, I8a, for supporting the frame on a surface with the top face thereof in horizontal position. The top panel I1 is shown inturned.

on a relatively large radius at I9 and 20 for ornamentality and to close the ends of the frame. Provided in top panel I! may be a plurality'of laterally spaced, longitudinally extending slots or grooves 2|, 22, 23, 24 and'25, each defining spaced trackways or guideways 26, 26, for slid-' ing engagement by pairs of projections 21, 21 at opposite sides of the racing pieces, thereby to support the same in vertical planes and with.

elongated bottom edge portions 28 thereof .ex-

tending downwardly in said slots to prevent lateral tilting of the racing pieces. The edge portions 28 of the racing pieces are in. the nature of racks or cams having longitudinally spaced V-shaped teeth 29, 29, the rear faces of which are substantially vertical, as shown in Figure 2. Journalled between the side panels l8 may be a plurality of longitudinally spaced members 3|, 3| each having a plurality of laterally spaced toothed cam segments 32, 32, aligned with said longitudinal slots for meshing engagement with the rack teeth of a racing piece cooperatively positioned above the segment for moving the racing piece forwardly along its guideways as the members 3| are rotated in a counter-clockwise direction, by means to be described later. The members 3| are longitudinally spaced apart in proportion to the length of the toothed racks 28 so that advancement of a racing piece to its furthermost forward point with respect to any one member 3|, by engagement of the last tooth of segment 32, considered in counter-clockwise succession of the teeth as best viewed in Figure 2, with the rearmost tooth of the racing piece, will move the same forwardly to a position in which any one of the teeth 33 of the next forwardly adjacent segment 32 will be in position for engagement with a tooth 29 of the racing piece rack. A given racing piece may thus be progressively advanced the full length of the race course, which is defined by fixed stop strips 35 and 36 at opposite ends of the top panel H.

The laterally spaced segments 32 on each rotatable member 3| are shown as being of quadrant shape and as having four teeth lying within the quadrant, but these segments are arranged in staggered relation with respect to each other so that at no time will there be more than two teeth substantially laterally aligned with each other, as will be seen by reference to Figures 5 to 8.

The means for rotating the rotary members 3|, 3| to advance the racing pieces along the race course in unpredictable manner may include two series 39 and 43 of flexible, endless transmission elements 4 I, 4| frictionally engaged between aligned grooves 42 and 43 of double pulleys 30, 30 fixed on adjacent members 3|,

the series 39 and being at opposite sides of the frame II for balanced operation of the mechanism. Similar laterally spaced, endless flexible transmission elements 44, 44 are frictionally engaged between grooves 42 of the pulley on the rearmost rotary member 3| and grooves 45 of pulleys 46, 461fixed on a rotatable member 41 journalled between the opposite sides i8 of the frame ll, and one or other of two relatively large rollers 43- 59 fixed on member 4? are manually operable to rotate all of the members 3! through the transmission elements 44 and dl, the rollers 49 projecting through the frame I I for this purpose, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The grooves 42 and 453 of the aligned pulleys 30 are of different depths. That is, the grooves 32 are deeper than the grooves 43, and, therefore no two adjacent members 3! are driven at the same speed, and similarly the grooves 45 of pulley 46 are deeper than the grooves 42 of its associated pulley. Hence, by means of this change speed arrangement of pulleys the relative positions of the toothed segments cannot be determined in ad- Vance of or during a race between two or more of the five racing pieces l2 to IE. v In use of the above described device as a racehorse game for amusement, the five horses or racing pieces l2, l3, It, [5 and is are lined up against the starting strip 35, in the manner shown in Figure 2, and the players each select a horse or horses to win by being the first to reach the finishing strip 38-. The race is started by manually rotating one or other of the rollers 49 in counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 2. It will be seen that the first quarter revolution of the first member 3| (nearest the right hand end of the device as shown in Figure 2) will only move racing piece [6 two full points, as determined by the number of teeth of a, segment 33 which will fully mesh with the rackteeth 29. With the same quarter revolution of said first member 3| the other four segments on the same may move the respective racing pieces l2, l3, M or I5 thereof, or not, according to whether or not the teeth of a given segment engage with the rack teeth of the corresponding playing-piece during said first quarter revolution. Thus some racing pieces may require more than one quarter of a revolution of the first rotary member 31 to move the same into initial toothmeshing position over the segments 32 of the second rotary member 3|. When conditions are right it is, of course, possible for a given segment to be initially rotated one quarter turn into full meshing engagement of all four teeth thereof with the rack of the corresponding playing piece, thereby to move the playing piece a maximum distance possible for one quarter rotation of member 3|. The racing pieces are similarly progressively moved from the second rotary member to the third, from the third to the fourth, and so on until one playing piece engages the finish line strip 36. Due to the staggered arrangement of the segments 32 on each rotary member 3| and the previously described change-speed arrangement from one rotary member to the next, the outcome of the race cannot be determined until one racing piece actually moves up to the strip 36.

Many of the parts of the device described above, such as the segments 32, the rotary membars 3!, and the pulleys 30 may be exact duplicates, which greatly facilitates economical manufacture of the device. 7

Modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An amusement device comprising a frame having a top panel and laterally spaced bearing means extending at the sides thereof, said top panel having therein a plurality of laterally spaced longitudinally extending slots defining trackways at opposite sides of the slots, a plurality of racing pieces each slidably supported on said trackways at opposite sides of a said slot, a plurality of longitudinally spaced members rotatably mounted between said spaced bearing means, means for rotating said members, said members and said racing pieces having cam means including portions interengageable upon rotation of the members to advance said racing pieces along said trackways, said cam means including a toothed rack on the underside of each racin piece and segments of a toothed member mounted in transversely non-aligned relationship on each said member and being aligned with said slots and having arcuately spaced teeth, the teeth of the segments being adapted to mesh with the rack teeth of a cooperatively positioned racing piece through one of said slots.

2. An amusement device comprising a frame having a top panel and laterally spaced bearing means extending at the sides thereof, said top panel having therein a plurality of laterally spaced longitudinally extending slots defining trackways at opposite sides of the slots, a plurality of racing pieces each slidably supported on said traclrways at opposite sides of a said slot, a plurality of longitudinally spaced members rotatably mounted between said spaced bearing means, means for rotating said members, said members and said racing pieces having cam means including portions interengageable upon rotation of the members to advance said racing pieces along said trackways, said cam mean including a toothed rack on the underside of each racing piece and a plurality of laterally spaced segments of a toothed circle mounted in transversely nonaligned relationship on each said member and being aligned with said laterally spaced slots, said segments each having arcuately spaced teeth adapted to mesh with the rack teeth of a cooperatively positioned racing piece through the respective slots of said top panel.

3, An amusement device comprising a frame having a top panel and laterally spaced bearing means extending at the sides thereof, said top panel having therein a plurality of laterally spaced longitudinally extending slots defining trackway at opposite sides of the slots, a plurality of racing pieces each slidably supported on said trackways at opposite sides of a said slot, a plurality of longitudinally spaced members rotatably mounted between said spaced bearing means, means for rotating said members, said members and said racing pieces having cam means including portions interengageable upon rotation of the members to advance said racing pieces along said trackways, said cam means including a toothed rack on the underside of each racing piece and a plurality of laterally spaced segments on each said member aligned with said laterally spaced slots, said segments each having arcuately spaced teeth adapted to mesh with the rack teeth of a cooperatively positioned racing piece through the respective slots of said top panel, said laterally spaced segments of each said member being variously arranged thereon with respect to the arcuate positions of the segment teeth.

4. An amusement device comprising a frame having a plurality of laterally spaced, longitudinally extending guideways presented on the upper side thereof, bearing means on said frame, racing pieces mounted on said guideways to be shiftable along the same, a plurality of longitudinally spaced members mounted on said bearing means to rotate on transverse axes, means for rotating said members, said members and said racing pieces having cam portions interengageable upon rotation of themembers to advance said racing pieces along said guideways, the longitudinal spacing of said members being such that movement of a racing piece along its guideway by rotation of one said member will advance said racing piece into position for further movement-by an adjacent rotatable member, said cam portions including a toothed rack on the underside of each racing piece and segments of a toothed member mounted in transversely nonaligned relationship on each said member and having arcuately spaced teeth adapted to mesh with the rack teeth of a cooperatively positioned racing piece.

5. An amusement device comprising a frame having a plurality of laterally spaced, longitudinally extending guideways presented on the upper side thereof, bearing means on said frame, racing pieces mounted on said guideways to be shiftable along the same, a plurality of longitudinally spaced members mounted on said bearing means to rotate on transverse axes, means for rotating said members, said members and said racing pieces having cam portions interengageable upon rotation of the members to advance said racing pieces along said guideways, the longitudinal spacing of said members being such that movement of a racing piece along its guideway by rotation of one said member will advance said racing piece into position for further movement by an adjacent rotatable member, said cam portions including a toothed rack on the underside of each racing piece and a plurality of laterally spaced segments of a toothed circle mounted in transversely non-aligned relationship on each said member to be in alignment with said corresponding guideways and each segment having arcuately spaced teeth adapted to mesh with the rack teeth of a racing piece cooperatively positioned on its guideway.

6. An amusement device comprising a frame having a plurality of laterally spaced, longitudinally extending guideways presented on the upper side thereof, bearing means on said frame, racing pieces mounted on said guideways to be shiftable along the same, a plurality of longitudinally spaced members mounted on said bearing means to rotate on tranverse axes, means for rotating said members, said members and said racin pieces having cam portions interengageable upon rotation of the members to advance said racing pieces along said guideways, the longitudinal spacing of said members being such that movement of a racing piece along its guideway by rotation of one said member will advance said racing piece into position for further movement by an adjacent rotatable member, said cam portions including a toothed rack on the underside of each racing piece and a plurality of laterally spaced segments on each said member to be in alignment with corresponding said guideways and each segment having arcuately spaced teeth adapted to mesh with the rack teeth of a racing piece cooperatively positioned on its guideway, said laterally spaced segments of each said member being variously arranged thereon with respect to the arcuate positions of the segment teeth.

'7. An amusement device comprising a frame having a plurality of laterally spaced, longitudinally extending guideways presented on the upper side thereof, bearing means on said frame, racing pieces mounted on said guideways to be shiftable along the same, a plurality of longitudinally spaced members mounted on said bearing means to rotate on transverse axes, means for rotating said members, said members and said racing pieces having cam portions interengageable upon rotation of the members to advance said racing pieces along said guideways, the longitudinal spacing of said members being such that movement of a racing piece along its guideway by rotation of one said member will advance said racing piece into position for further movement by an adjacent rotatable member, said cam portions including a toothed rack on the underside of each racing piece and a plurality of laterally spaced segments on each said member to be in association with corresponding said guideways and each segment having arcuately spaced teeth adapted to mesh with the rack teeth of a racing piece cooperatively positioned on its guideway, said laterally spaced segments of each said member being variously arranged thereon with respect to the arcuate positions of the segment teeth, said means for rotating said members including series of pulleys on said members arranged in substantially aligned pairs on adjacent members, a series of continuous flexible transmission elements arranged between said aligned pairs of pulleys, and a mechanism for rotating one of said members and thereby acting through said transmission elements to rotate all of said members.

8. An amusement device comprising a frame having a plurality of laterally spaced, longitudinally extending guideways presented on the upper side thereof, bearing means on said frame, racing pieces mounted on said guideways to be shiftable along the same, a plurality of longitudinally spaced members mounted on said bearing means to rotate on transverse axes, means for rotating said members, said members and said racing pieces having cam portions interengageable upon rotation of the members to advance said racing pieces along said guideways, the longitudinal spacing of said members being such that movement of a racing piece along its guideway by rotation of one said member will advance said racing piece into position for further movement by an adjacent rotatable member, said cam portions including a toothed rack on the underside of each racing piece and a plurality of laterally spaced segments on each said member to be in association with corresponding said guideways and each segment having arcuately spaced teeth adapted to mesh with the rack teeth of a racing piece cooperatively positioned on its guideway, said laterally spaced segments of each said member being variously arranged thereon with respect to the arcuate positions of the segment teeth, said means for rotating said members in cluding series of pulleys on said members arranged in substantially aligned pairs on adjacent members, a series of continuous flexible transmission elements arranged between said aligned pairs of pulleys, and a mechanism for rotating one of said members and thereby acting through said transmission elements to rotate all of said members, said pulleys having varying diameters at the points of engagement of the transmission elements for driving said members at varying speeds.

9. An amusement device comprising a frame having a plurality of laterally spaced elongated guideways presented on the upper side thereof and defining a plurality of elongated slots, bearing means on said frame, racing pieces mounted on said guideways to be shiftable along the same and each having a toothed rack portion presented to a respective said slot, a plurality of members mounted on said bearing means to rotate on transverse axes at spaced points along the guideways, means for rotating said members on said axes in unison, said members each having cam portions for each said slot, each said cam portion having areuately spaced teeth for meshing with the teeth of a said rack upon rotation of the members to advance said racing pieces along said guideways, the teeth on the cams of each said member being transversely non-aligned, the longitudinal spacing of said members being such that movement of a racing piece along its guideway by rotation of one said member will advance said racing piece into position for further movement by a next adjacent rotatable member.

ORLIN H. CARPENTER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,072,181 Shuyler Sept. 2, 1913 1,479,753 Stafford Jan. 1, 1924 1,527,125 De Woolfson Feb. 17, 1925 1,553,909 Moeller Sept. 15, 1925 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 245,473 Germany 1 Apr. 6, 1912 297,920 Great Britain Oct. 4, 1928 480,733 Great Britain Feb. 28, 1938 

